Overview of the issues that will be discussed in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, this petrodictatorship neighboring Russia.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The COP of finance
The main objective of COP29 is to conclude the “new quantified collective objective for financing the fight against climate change”, i.e. a mechanism better suited to helping developing countries reduce their emissions and adapt to global warming. This agreement is intended to be a continuation of that which provided for rich countries to pay developing countries 100 billion US dollars per year until 2025. “It is fundamental because finance is one of the essential parts of the compromise that was the Paris Agreement”, or the idea that the countries of the North would provide the necessary resources to limit warming to between 1.5 and 2ºC, indicates Caroline Brouillette, general director of the Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of 150 organizations working on climate and energy issues. “The resources exist, they are just poorly distributed,” she said, referring to billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies or military spending.
Spark ambition
Expectations are high for certain pioneering countries to announce their new climate commitments for 2035 at COP29, called in UN jargon the “nationally determined contribution”, even if Member States have until February to do so. “The commitments of States are clearly insufficient, [la baisse des émissions de gaz à effet de serre] is clearly not progressing fast enough,” underlines environmental policy professor at the University of Sherbrooke Annie Chaloux, citing the recent United Nations report on the subject. “If there are states that dare to be among the first to present a new target, that could give indications to others where to go,” she believes, recalling that ambition must be reflected as much in the targets than in the means of achieving them. However, few countries have indicated their intention to unveil their new objectives in Baku for the moment.
Read the article “Global GHG emissions break a new record”
Necessary adaptation
The gathered countries will also attempt to define a global objective for adaptation to climate change, as well as a way to measure it. The path to achieving this undoubtedly involves protecting biodiversity, says Anne-Céline Guyon, energy and climate analyst at Nature Québec. “Nature has a huge role to play in both mitigation and adaptation,” she says, referring for example to the restoration of banks to deal with flooding. The final agreement of COP28 also underlined in December 2023 the need to integrate into climate solutions the target of protecting 30% of land, inland waters and oceans adopted at COP15 on biodiversity in Montreal, in 2022, reminds Mme Guyon. COP29 must ensure that this objective “remains a priority and [que les États] “walk the talk,” she says.
Read the article “COP15: a “historic” agreement adopted amid bickering”
Petrodictatorship
The COP is being held for the third year in a row in an oil-producing country, after the United Arab Emirates, in 2023, and Egypt, in 2022, which does not fail to arouse criticism. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, tempers Caroline Brouillette. “Last year, in Dubai, it was the president of an oil and gas company who held the pencil of a historic agreement” calling for the first time to move away from fossil fuels, she recalls . On the other hand, the Azerbaijani presidency of COP29 “does not deploy the same tact and the same resources” as the Emirati presidency of COP28, she observes, an observation shared by a good number of observers. It is especially human rights violations in Azerbaijan that pose a problem, believes Annie Chaloux. “This calls into question the real desire of States to make the link between climate change and human rights,” she regrets.
Canada in an “uncomfortable” position
Canada will be in an uncomfortable position in Baku, warns Annie Chaloux, who points to the growing production of hydrocarbons in the country. “We cannot continue to [tenir un discours] proactive and be among the biggest polluters on the planet,” she says. Especially since Canada is increasingly affected by climate change, which has consequences on neighboring countries, as the forest fires of the last two years have shown. Ottawa will not be able to afford to slow down on climate issues, even if the Conservatives take power, warns Anne-Céline Guyon. “Any government that refuses to act on climate change puts its population in danger,” she said, referring to the medical journal’s report. The Lancetpublished last month, showing an increase in the impact of climate change on health. “It would be irresponsible for a Canadian government to withdraw from negotiations [climatiques] and the Paris Agreement,” she said.
Read the article “Health increasingly affected by climate change”
